Byzantium

 

Byzantium 2012

• Director: Neil Jordan
• Seen by this director: Breakfast on Pluto, The Butcher Boy, Michael Collins, Interview with the Vampire
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Gemma Arterton, Sam Riley, Caleb Landry Jones, Daniel Mays, Uri Gavriel
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Saoirse Ronan – Little Women, Mary Queen of Scots, Lady Bird, Brooklyn, Hanna, Atonement
• Gemma Arterton – Their Finest, The Girl with All the Gifts, 100 Streets, A Song for Marion, Tamara Drewe, Kick Ass Girls 2, The Boat that Rocked, Quantum of Solace, Lost in Austen
• Sam Riley – Maleficent, Brighten Rock, Control
• Caleb Landry Jones – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, Get Out, God’s Pocket, X-Men First Class, Social Network, Breaking Bad, No Country for Old Men
• Daniel Mays –1917, Fisherman’s Friends, Rogue One, Victor Frankenstein, Doctor Who, Made in Dagenham, Hustle, Red Riding, Atonement, A Good Year, The Secret Life of Words, Vera Drake, All or Nothing
• Uri Gavriel – The Dark Knight Rises, The Band’s Visit
• Why? The cast
• Seen:  17 June 2023 

Eleanor (Ronan) writes her story and throws the pages out the window from her high-rise flat. Clara is a lap dancer. They both kill somebody and must flee the city.

That’s just the start.

They end up in a seaside town. Eleanor and Clara are not what they seem to be. Eleanor is haunted by their past, and it’s a very long past.

It’s one of the best vampire films I’ve seen. It has similarities to Interview with the Vampire by the same director but it’s much better – more credible, superior acting, and more sympathetic characters. 

4 * of 5